Out in the social media realms, the American Rinzai priest Meido Moore shared the great Thirteenth century Eihei Dogen’s advice for dying. It had been awhile since I’d read it. And, the re-read touched me. So, I thought it appropriate to share the quote here together with a few words of reflection. First the text. From the Shobogenzo section 94, “Mind of the Way”, in the Levitt & Tanahashi translation. “When you leave this life, and before... Read more

  ZEN AND THE DARK Chris Hoff Dharma Teacher Empty Moon Zen This week I visited Sedona Arizona. Sedona is a place I have visited regularly since the first time I visited over 25 years ago. I know this might be cliché but, I just like the vibe. And its beauty of course. Sedona is known for a lot of things, but Zen? Not so much. That might be changing as I discovered that there is a Dharma successor of... Read more

      THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS AND ANOTHER THING Spiritual Responses to Hard Things James Ishmael Ford Delivered on the 29th of May, 2022 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Long Beach “Stop the war raging across the river.” “Miscellaneous Koans,” Empty Moon Zen Tomorrow is Memorial Day. It’s meant to be a time to pause and reflect and give thanks for those who have died in defense of our republic. That died part is often lost among the barbecues,... Read more

              It was on this day, the 18th of May, in 1871 that the uprising we know as the Paris Commune, the Commune de Paris, fell… Read more

      Julia Ward Howe was born on the 27th of May, in 1819. She was half of one of the nineteenth century’s genuine power couples (Her husband Dr Samuel Gridley Howe was the founding director of Perkins School for the Blind was the first person to develop a system for educating the deafblind.), she is no doubt best known for the Battle Hymn which was published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862. Descended from Roger Williams and two governors... Read more

          Berry Crawford at Simplicity Zen, interviewed me about a lot of things, although the touchstone was the Zen path. For more about the Empty moon project. For about my work specifically.   Read more

        “It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.” Bertrand Russell It was on this day, the 26th of May in 1328 that the minister general of the Franciscan order and three other friars, including William of Occam, fled the papal court at Avignon. They were reasonably confident if they stayed they would be condemned as heretics and executed at the order... Read more

      Many years ago now, Jan and I and some friends visited Ireland. While in Dublin, in Merrion Square, we saw the famous statue of Oscar Wilde lounging on a rock. It’s quite the piece of art.  As, of course, was Oscar. Following his disastrous libel lawsuit against the Marquess of Queensberry, Oscar Wilde was arrested on the 6th of April, 1895, charged with “gross indecency.” As it happens, it was today, the 25th of May, that Wilde... Read more

    Today, the 24th of May, the Romani, or at least some Romani, celebrate Saint Sarah, sometimes called Black Sarah, or Sarah the Black, Sara e Kali in Romani, as their patron. Like many popular saints in the Roman Catholic calendar, her historicity is shrouded. Some like the idea that her cult in fact came with the Romani from India, on their ancient journey to Europe. In this telling she is a distant remembering of the goddess Kali. Others... Read more

    It was today, the 23rd of May, in 1498, that the Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola was burned at the stake in Florence. He may be a bit better remembered for the falò delle vanità, the “Bonfire of the Vanities,” which occurred about a year before, on the 7th of February, in 1497. For a moment Savonarola was functional dictator of Florence. And under his orders the people gathered together what they and the good friar considered temptations into sin,... Read more